Convertible love seat



A. WESLEY CONVERTIBLE LOVE SEAT Filed Oct. 2l, 1938 5 Sheets-Sheet l RS JVENTOR @ff/ZM L9@ BY Aug- 13, 1940 A. WESLEY CONVERTIBLE LOVE SEAT Filed Oct. 21,'1938 3 Sheets-Sheet .2

\--I- -JET ATTORNEY.

Allg. A WESLEY CONVERTIBLE LOVE SEAT Filed 001:. 21, 1938 5 Sheets-Sheet 3 INVENTQR.

ATTORNEY.

Patented Aug. 13, 1940 UNITED STATES CONVERTIBLE LOVE, SEATl Arthur Wesley, Chicago, Ill., assignor to Burton- Dixie Corporation, Chicago, Ill., a corporation of Delaware Application October 21 1938, Serial No. 236,198

2 Claims. l(Cl. 5--17) My current invention pertains to articles of furniture which are readily changeable or modiable to render them suitable or serviceable for other uses, such, for example, but not necessarily restrictedly, as love seats capable of conversion into beds, the invention, however, being susceptible of satisfactory employment in other or comparable pieces of furniture.

In a specific embodiment of the invention in a love seat, the structure is so made that one end or arm portion of the seat may be drawn out, which action so positions or converts other parts of the theretofore concealed bed into operative relation.

Such a love seat, when in normal constricted or unexpanded position, has two seat-cushions, one on top of the other and desirably practically of the same length reaching from one arm of the structure to the other and one feature of the present invention resides in a construction whereby the movable Dart of the bed is made suiiiciently long to accommodate one of such pair of cushions, preferably the upper one, as its mattress, the other cushion forming the mattress for the cornpanion stationary section of the bed.

Another aim of the invention is to provide a structure of this general character in which the bed, when expanded into usable condition, has no objectionable means making the transverse middle section thereof of any greater degree of stiffness or hardness than the remaining portions of the bed.

A further purpose of the invention is to supply an article of furniture of this type in which the expansible end or arm of the seat is held reasonably rigidly and firmly in the contracted condition of the appliance.

In addition, the invention contemplates' the employment or ordinarily concealed locking means for holding the parts of the structure together in its collapsed or condensed status.

To enable those skilled in this art to fully understand the novel invention, both from structural and functional standpoints, in the accompanying drawings, a present preferred embodiment of the invention hasl been illustrated in detail, and in the several views thereof, for simplicity, like reference numerals have been employed to designate the same parts.

In these drawings:

Figure 1 is a front elevation of the love seat in its normal condition with a portion of the front thereof cut away to more clearly present a part of its inner construction,

Figure 2 is a like elevation of the structure in its expanded bed-forming condition;

Figure 3 is a horizontal section on line 3--3 of Figure 2 illustrating the bed in its expanded condition but with the mattress-cushions 5 omitted;

Figure 4 is an enlarged end-view of the bedportion only of the article of furniture;

Figure 5 is an enlarged vertical cross-section through the structure on line 5--5 of Figure 1; 10 and Figures 6 and 7 are fragmentary detail sections on line 6-6 of Figure 3 and line l-l of Figure 4, respectively with the metal bed-fabrics omitted. 15

Referring to these drawings, it will be readily perceived that the love seat includes a suitable back II, a fixed end or arm I2, a movable end or arm I3, an under seat-cushion I4, and an upper seat-cushion I5 of equal size, but of greater 20 thickness, the top surface of cushion I5 and the bottom face of cushion I4 desirably being made of mattress' ticking or comparable or equivalent material, whereas the exposed portions of both cushions in the collapsed condition of the seat'are 25 of appropriate material, such as suitable textile fabric or leather, either real or artificial.

A stationary bed-frame is xedly secured to the end or arm member I2 in any approved manner, such frame at its top including parallel, hori- 30 Zontal angle-bars I 6, lconnected together at their ends' adjacent to the arm-member I2 by a cross angle-bar I I, these three bars carrying a suitable or ordinary metal bed-fabric or springmounted structure characterized as a whole I8, 35 brace-bars I9, I9 being employed at two corners of the frame for strengthening and stiffening purposes.

This stationary frame is supported by four corner vlegs 2l and 22 having anti-friction dome- 40 members at their lower ends to rest on the floor or its covering. Y

The pair of legs 2l, 2I part-way'up their height are connected together by a horizontal angle-bar 23 (Figures l, 2, 5 and 7) and at the same elevation the two legs 22, 22 at the opposite end of the frame are joined together by a similar horizontal angle-bar 24, the upper, horizontal flanges of these two members 23 and 24 supporting a pair of spaced-apart, guiding, track angle-bars 25, 2'; 50 each having its outer ange directed upwardly and its inner ange horizontal.

The supplemental or auxiliary bed-frame which is secured in any approved manner to the movable end or arm member I3, includes vparallel Cir angle-bars 26, 26 secured together at their ends adjacent to such member I3 by a transverse angle-bar 2l, braces 28, 28 being employed at such end of the frame and upright legs 29, 23, supporting this part of the construction, the lower ends of the legs having rollers 3I, 3l bearing on the oor to facilitate the opening and closing of the structure.

An appropriate, metal bed-fabric 32 is yieldingly mounted on the top of such secondary frame as by helical-springs, as is also the case with the first-mentioned or stationary bedsection.

'Ihe other ends of the bars 26 are connected together by a downwardly-bowed or arched bar 33 so that the occupant of the bed will be coinortable and without bearing his weight on such element 33, the metal fabrics I8 and 3 readily yielding downwardly.

Shorter upright legs 34, 36 support the end of such smaller frame 25, 2l, 33 remote from the arm or love seat member I3 on the tracks or rails 25, 25, the legs having rollers 35, 35, at their lower ends adapted to travel or ride easily along such tracks.

These legs 34 and their rollers 35, however, are not mounted directly on the frame elements 26, 2S, but rather each is secured to a slide 33 (Figure 7) beneath and has a multiple pin or rivet and slot connection 3i' with the corresponding bar 26 of such shiftable secondary or smaller frame.

In order to prevent the rollers 35, 35 from running off the ends of their supporting tracks 25, 25, each of the latter at one end is iitted with stop 38 (Figs. 6 and '7).

To lock the two sections of the bed together in the contracted condition of the structure and with arm-member i3 in place, a latch (il (Figure '7) having a bevelled end 42 is hinged or pivoted at 43 on a bracket 44 mounted on the underside of a transverse angle-bar 45 forming a part of the frame and connecting the legs 22, 29 together, such latch or lock having a tail 46 beneath the lower edge of the depending, vertical flange of the angle-bar 45 to limit the rocking descent of the latch, the latter being pressed downwardly by a suitable spring l? engaging the angle-bar and latch and coiled around the hingepin 43,

When the undersection of the bed is pushed home within the outer larger bed-section, latch 4I engages and rides over the angle-bar 24 of the xed frame, and, by cooperation with the inner edge of such bar, releasably locks or latches the two members of the bed together, and, of course, at the same time holds the end or arm member I3 in proper position with relation to the other parts II and I2 of the love seat.

Such pivoted lock or latch is manually releasable by means of a cord-loop i8 secured to the latch and extended upwardly through a loop 49 on the inner side of the end-member I3 to a position about midway the thickness of the upper seat-cushion I5 (Figure l).

As an additional means for maintaining the seat-end or arm-member I3 more irmly in closed position, springs 5I mounted on the cross anglebar I'I of the fixed frame extend downwardly and securely engage and press downwardly on the top surfaces of the frame-bars 26, 2G.

To open the love seat to provide a bed for sleeping purposes, one reaches down between the top cushion I5 and the arm-member I3 and pulls upwardly on the cord 48 to raise and free the lock or latch 4I and at the same time moves the arm-member I3 outwardly.

During such movement of the parts and expansion of the structure, rollers 3i, 3i travel easily on the floor or its rug or carpet covering and rollers 35, 35 roll on the stationary tracks and guides 25, 25, the inner end of the smaller auxiliary or secondary frame readily passing out from beneath the two springs 5i, 5i.

When the rollers 35, 35 contact with their limiting stops 38, 38 and the expansion of the structure is continued, the slides which now become stationary allow the movable bed-trarne to prolong it outward travel until one o the pins 31 comes to and is stopped by the end of the slot in the slide (Figure 6).

The parts are so constructed and proportioned that the movable bed-frame top-surface is of sufficient length to receive the inverted upper cushion I5 which is swung over and thereby reversed to occupy such relation, the bottom of the upper seat-cushion I5 and the top of the lower seatcushion I4 being desirably hinged or connected together at 52, as by a piece of fabric fastened to the two, to allow such reversal turning of the upper cushion, the latter being enough thicker than the companion cushion I4 so that the top surface of the mattress now formed by such two cushions, one of which has been turned upside down, is substantially nat (see Figure 2) To convert the novel structure back into the original love seat, all one has to do is to swing the cushion I5 up on top of the other cushion I4 and push the end or arm-member I3 inwardly, the result being that the slides 36, 36 collapse first, and, when the member I3 is fully back in place, the movable bed-frame will have been pushed under the confining springs 5I, 5i and the latch will have locked the parts together.

One outstanding feature of this construction is that, by reason of the use of the slides 36, 36, the bed can be expanded enough so that in the love seat the two superposed cushions I4 and I5 may be of the same length reaching from arm to arm as portrayed and, in this connection, it should be noted that, in the expanded condition of the structure, the inner end of the withdrawn bedsection is supported solely by said slides and associated parts.

Those versed in this art will readily understand that this novel invention is not necessarily coni-ined and restricted to the precise and exact details of structure and mode of operation hereinabove set forth and that various changes may be resorted to without departure from the heart and essence of the invention as dened by the appended claims, which should be construed as broadly as permissible by the state of the prior art, and without the loss or sacrifice of any of the material benets and advantages accruing from the employment of the principles underlying the invention,

I claim:

l. In a convertible love seat, the combination of a pair of arm-members, an upper bed-section, including a resilient cushion-supporting means. secured at one end to one of said arm-members and forming the seat of said love seat, a lower bed-section having a second resilient cushionsupporting means mounted thereon and movable therewith and normally nested beneath said upper bed-section and secured at its opposite end to the other arm-member, said united arm-members and bed-sections being slidable relatively to one another lengthwise said bed-sections by corresponding movement of one of said arm-members to allow conversion of the love seat into a bed, top and bottom normally-superposed seat-cushions for said love seat, each of substantially the length of said upper bed-section and extending from one-arm member to the other arm-member in the contracted condition of the structure, said upper bed-section having a frame with supporting legs adjacent its end opposite its arm-member end and a cross tie-bar at said opposite end below the top of said frame, tracks on said frame parallel to the direction of elongation of the love seat, said lower bed-section having a frame, intermediate-members having rollers bearing on and adapted to travel on and lengthwise of said tracks, slidable connections disposed lengthwise said bed-sections between the inner end of said lower bed-section and said intermediate-members, each said slidable-connection comprising a slot in the one element accommodating spacedapart pins xecl to the other element, and stopmeans to limit the extent of outward movement of said intermediate-members, said lower-bed section being capable of full withdrawal from ybeneath said upper bed-section by reason of said slidable-connections allowing further outward travel of said lower bed-section after said intermediate members have engaged said stop-means, said intermediate-members constituting the sole support for the inner end of said lower bed-section in the completely-expanded condition of the structure.

2. In a convertible love seat, the combination of a pair of arm-members, an upper bed-section, including a resilient cushion-supporting means, secured at one end to one of said arm-members and forming the seat of said love-seat, a lower bed-section having a second resilient cushionsupporting means mounted thereon and movable therewith and normally nested beneath said upper bed-section and secured at its opposite end to the other arm-member, said united arm-members and bed-sections being slidable relatively to one another lengthwise said bed-sections by corresponding movement of one of said arm-members to allow conversion of the love seat into a. bed, top and bottom normally-superposed seat-cushions for said love-seat, each of substantially the length of said upper bed-section and extending from one arm-member to the other arm-member in the contracted condition of the structure, said upper bed-section having a frame with supporting legs adjacent its end opposite its arm-meinber end and a cross tie-bar at said opposite end below the top of said frame, tracks on said frame parallel to the direction of elongation of the love seat, said lower bed-section having a frame, intermediate-members having rollers bearing on and adapted to travel on and lengthwise of said tracks, slidable-connections disposed lengthwise said bed-sections between said inner end of said lower bed-section and said intermediate-members, stop-means to limit the extent of outward movement of said intermediate-members, said lower bed-section being capable of full withdrawal from beneath said upper bed-section by reason of said slidable-connections allowing further outward travel of said lower bed-section after said intermediate-members have engaged said stop-means, said intermediate-members constituting the sole support for the inner end of said lower bed-section in the completely-eX- panded condition of the structure, and springmeans fastened to said upper bed-section pressing down on the inner end of said lower bed-secf tion in the fully telesco-ped relation of the bedsections, thereby assisting in maintaining the arm-member of said lower bed-section in position.

ARTHUR WESLEY. 

